A faultless display from Mike Sanderson and his crew secured a third straight in-port victory in Rio de Janeiro today and extended the lead of ABN AMRO ONE at the top of the leader board of the Volvo Ocean Race. After a well executed start, ABN AMRO ONE lead into Guanabara Bay breaking away from the rest of the fleet – they went on to gradually lengthen the gap to the following pack from 55 seconds at the halfway point to 2 min 5 seconds at the finish.

Speaking from Marina da Gloria, Rio Mike Sanderson said, “That was the perfect race for us. The boat was in beautiful condition, it had been well prepared and the crew work was awesome. The guys should be very proud today, they sailed a fantastic race. To be honest we had worried about this in port race since the start because we knew the conditions were unlikely to suit us. This morning everything looked a bit light but by the time we were out there it all picked up and we had 17 knots at one point.

“The team was magic today – faultless. We got the perfect start and everything went to plan after that – it’s a great day for ABN AMRO ONE and I am very proud to be part of this team.”

There was less fortune for ABN AMRO TWO as Seb Josse and his crew who, despite a slow start, managed to gain third place by the penultimate leg. But as they made the turn the spinnaker hit the marker buoy forcing the crew to make a 360° penalty turn taking them back to last place. A final fight from the young crew on the last downwind leg however, saw ABN AMRO TWO catch The Pirates of the Caribbean to finish 5th just 3 seconds behind Brasil 1.

“We did not have a good start”, said ABN AMRO TWO skipper Seb Josse. “We were slow over the line and had to work hard to make up the ground but the crew did well and we went into the last lap in third place. We had a good fight with Paul Cayard on the final straight - it shows that our boat is fast. A few more meters and I think we would have caught Brasil 1 too.

“I was frustrated that we had to put in a penalty turn but that is sailing, the crew is also young and we are learning all the time. On the last lap when everything came together we showed that we can be very fast.”

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